United States Basketball League - Florence Flyers

Florence Flyers to Begin Play in 2004

By ANDY COLE
Morning News

FLORENCE -- Florence now has two professional athletic teams calling it home.

The United States Basketball League announced Monday that Florence will be the home of its newest franchise team, the Florence Flyers.

The new franchise will play its home games at the Florence Civic Center and begin playing in April.

Half of the team's 30-game season will be played in Florence, officials said.

Headed up by Fayetteville, N.C., real estate developer Jeffrey Burns as the owner, president and CEO of the team, the Flyers will be coached by Rick Ross.

The USBL has been around for 18 years as a minor league for basketball. With teams in New York, Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas, Florence will be the first team for the league in South Carolina.

"The Florence Flyers franchise is the first USBL franchise to be based in South Carolina, and I know it will be successful," said Daniel Meisenheimer, founder and commissioner of USBL.

Meisenheimer said the region is important for the league.

"This is a vital area for the USBL to come to, due to the tradition and the long-standing love of basketball in the area," he said.

"I feel the Flyers will open up more markets in the southern United States and provide the USBL with more expansion opportunities."

The news was welcome at the civic center, which is publicly funded.

The city and county have had to give the center's managers money for each year of its operation to keep the facility's books in the black. Bringing another attraction to the venue will help.

The civic center recently purchased a new basketball flooring system in hopes of attracting college games, including those for Francis Marion University. The 15 games played by the Flyers each season only helps to justify the purchase.

"We wanted to diversify the event calendar some," said Kendall Wall, general manager of the civic center. "This group I liked. It fit in because it doesn't compete with hockey season, and it's a shorter season."

Wall said the Flyers will pay the civic center $1,000 per game, plus box office charges and other expenses.

The team has a two-year contract with an option to renew for a third season.

"The contract is comparable to the one the Pride has with the civic center," Wall said.

Burns' decision to put the Flyers in Florence was helped along some by Wall.

"Believe it or not, the Fayetteville Patriots put me in touch with Kendall," Burns said. "He used to be the manager at the Fayetteville civic center, and he's down here now, and we looked at a few other markets, but after talking with Kendall and other folks here, we decided to locate here."

The addition of another professional team to go along with the Florence Pride hockey team was good news to city and county officials, who turned out to welcome the team to the area.

"I think you'll find that this city is very supportive of any athletics," Florence Mayor Frank Willis told officials from the USBL when the announcement was made.

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